I am an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at California State University, Sacramento. I received my PhD in philosophy from Duke University, and my teaching and research interests are in political philosophy, Asian philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of mind & cognitive science.
Here are my recent official teacher evaluations that each summarize an entire semester of classes. My global average over all categories is consistently between 4 and 5 with "5" being the highest.
My work researches various issues in political philosophy related to what the most legitimate form of government is, where I hybridize a Confucian meritocracy with Western democracy. This research is informed by empirical findings in political psychology and also addresses issues in the philosophy of race, free speech, and distributive justice. Another project explores what theories of concepts in the philosophy of mind & cognitive science apply to moral concepts. I then examine what implications my theory of moral concepts has on normative ethics, moral semantics, and moral truth. This research has led to a book entitled, The Psychological Basis of Moral Judgments (Routledge). I'm also currently examining arguments for the possible existence of God and the issue of free will based on studies in mathematical psychology regarding the computational processes that underwrite decision-making.
I am a coach of the CSUS Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Debate Team.